Thain of the Shire
by LittleHobbitGal
Summary: My first try at fan fiction. Paladin Took copes with the disappearance of his son and the Occupation of the Shire.
1. Default Chapter

The Mysterious Disappearance of Peregrin Took

Paladin Took had not been as surprised as you might expect when his only son and heir, Peregrin, had disappeared in to the Old Forest one day. Very little surprised Paladin. He had been a farmer most of his life, adept at shrugging off the vagaries of nature. Since the death of his cousin Ferumbras three years before he had also been The Took, head of a large, wealthy, and notoriously eccentric Shire family. On the whole, he would rather deal with the wind and the rain than with many of his relations. One of the family's chief eccentricities was a very un-hobbit like penchant for adventures. Tooks, and hobbits of Took ancestry, were known to disappear from time to time. Some of them vanished completely, but some of them returned none the worse for wear, bringing with them great treasure, and a store of stories few other hobbits believed. Paladin himself had eagerly listened as a child to the tales of his well-traveled cousin Bilbo Baggins, and had been one of those who refused to believe, when Bilbo vanished again seventeen years ago, that he had come to a bad end in the Wild. No, Paladin was not surprised.

He was, however, a bit concerned. He was immoderately fond of his youngest child, the boy everyone called Pippin. There were also the odd tales that had been flying about the Shire during the last year to consider. Strange creatures were said to have been seen walking near the North borders, and Dwarves were out on the roads in increased numbers. There was talk of elves in the woods too, but that was an old story. According to rumor, Bilbo Baggins had been talking to elves in the woods of the Shire for years, and his adopted heir Frodo was suspected of following in his footsteps. (Frodo, after all, had a Took grandmother, and his mother was a Brandybuck. The Brandybucks were well known to have their own oddities.)

That was not really what worried him. Like most hobbits, Paladin had been inclined to pass off the tales as just that, tales, idle concoctions of minds without enough else to do. However, as Thain of the Shire, another title inherited from cousin Ferumbras, Paladin was at least nominally responsible for the security of this small land, so he had felt it his duty to make a few discrete inquiries. When he spoke to his cousin Bandy, head of the North-tooks around Long Cleaves in the North Farthing, Bandy had shrugged, and hinted that those who saw such things as walking trees had been drinking a wee bit too much. The dwarves were certainly real, but they didn't bother anyone. They stuck to the main roads, and provided good business for the inns along the way. Elves did not trouble Shirefolk much either, whether they were believed in or not.

Pippin himself  did not believed that there were Elves living in the woods of the Shire, but he believed that they did pass through the country sometimes, and when they did, Frodo certainly spoke to them. He had spent much of his youth visiting the Baggins' of Bag End or tramping through the countryside with Frodo and their friend and cousin, Merry Brandybuck. Pippin had been with Frodo when they all disappeared. No surprise there. Frodo and Merry had been know to 'kidnap' Pippin before, only to bring him back a few days later, disheveled, happy, and perfectly safe. The fact that they all disappeared together would indeed have been a great comfort to Paladin, if it wasn't for the frightened reports that began pouring in , that Buckland had been invaded by Black Riders from the Old Forest and that the house Pippin had been staying in had been broken into. Hard on the heels of the first of these rumors he received an urgent message from the Master of Brandy hall, the chief hobbit in all of Buckland. As soon as he read the note he moved into action. After had gathered all the information he could in his end of the Shire, he saddled a pony and rode out to Buckland, on the borders of the Old Forest, to visit Brandy Hall. The Master of the Hall, Saradoc Brandybuck, was Paladin's brother-in-law, as well as being Merry's father, and first cousin to Frodo Baggins. 

At the Hall he was warmly greeted by his sister Esmeralda, and led into one of the many comfortable, wood-paneled studies to be found along the winding passageways of the old Brandybuck residence. The most impressive of these boasted large windows over looking the Brandywine River, but the room he followed his sister to was much smaller. It was Saradoc's private office. A cozy, windowless room, deep in Buck hill, it held only two chairs, a small, tidy table, currently holding two mugs of beer, and a cheerful fire snapping behind the grate of a little fireplace.

Esmeralda kissed his cheek in the doorway. "They'll be back."

Paladin returned her kiss, but said nothing. 

With the door closed, and the room soon comfortably wreathed in pipe-smoke, Paladin puffed on his pipe and patiently watched his brother-in-law. Paladin knew that Saradoc had the information he wanted, and was willing to let The Master tell it in his own time. "How is Eglantine?" Saradoc asked quietly.

Paladin took his pipe out of his mouth and shrugged. "She has been Peregrin's mother long enough to resign herself to his more Tookish qualities. She still worries, though."

"As do you." 

Paladin smiled ruefully. "As do I." He picked up his mug but did not drink. "You are certain the boys had left the house at Crickhollow before it was attacked?" Saradoc nodded. Paladin breathed a sigh of relief and took a long swallow of beer.

Saradoc waited until he had finished before speaking. "Those Riders were not from the Old Forest. They were looking for someone. Buckland wasn't the first place they looked, was it."

 Paladin shook his head. "They were sighted up in Hobbiton. Old Gaffer Gamgee spoke to one the night Frodo and Pippin left Bag-end with Sam." 

"So you spoke to Sam's father. And what does the Gaffer make of this all?" Saradoc asked with interest. Gaffer Gamgee was known as a character, even on the far side of the Brandywine. He was Frodo Baggins' gardener, as he had been gardener to old Bilbo before. His son Sam had been enthralled as a boy by Mr. Bilbo's tales of elves, and when Bilbo adopted Frodo as his heir, Sam had formed a close friendship with the younger Baggins. When Frodo moved back to Crickhollow to be near his childhood home in Buckland, Sam had gone with him as his serving-man, and vanished, less than a week later, along with his master and the rest.

"The Gaffer," Paladin responded a little wryly, "is convinced that the whole thing comes of Frodo selling Bag-end and moving back among 'those queer Bucklanders'. Of course the Gaffer blames everything on Frodo selling Bag-end these days, and that he blames on the influence of wizards. Gandalf showed up on Gamgee's doorstep the same night the Riders were stirring things up here. He took off like a shot when the Gaffer told him Frodo was in Crickhollow."

Saradoc took his pipe out of his mouth. "Gandalf! So he was in the Shire! That's news to me. I don't suppose the Gaffer said anything more about their conversation. Does he have any ideas about what happened to Sam?"

"The Gaffer had plenty of ideas, but most of them about the new owners of Bag End. I have some idea now why Gandalf was in such a hurry to get away. As for Sam, he is with his master, and that is enough for Hamfast Gamgee. " Paladin eyed his friend carefully. "And you, what do you know about wizards and Dark Riders?"

  There was a pause. Saradoc nodded thoughtfully. "It all seems to fit together. Farmer Maggot saw a rider a few nights after the Gaffer did. The same night Frodo and his party arrived in Crickhollow. It may have been the same one. Asking for Baggins. The same thing the Gaffer's visitor asked I gather. " Paladin merely nodded. There was a pause while Saradoc took a long pull on his mug, and Paladin waited. "Frodo knew he was being pursued. He left the Shire to draw the Riders away:"

"Merry and Pippin must have know too," Paladin mused. "They left the Shire because they would not allow Frodo to face danger and exile without them." A bittersweet smile crossed his face at the memory of a ten-year-old Merry happily setting out from Brandy Hall for a walk with Frodo. Frodo had grown up in the Hall before being adopted by Bilbo, and whenever he came back for a visit young Merry stuck like a shadow to his much older cousin. Paladin and his family had been there at the time too, visiting Esmeralda, and little Pippin, only two and still a bit unsteady on his feet, had gamely toddled after them, determined not to be left behind. Frodo, an adventurous 'tween of twenty-four, laughed, and swung young Pippin up onto his shoulders. There had always been a special bond between Frodo and the boys. "He would not have wanted to take them," Paladin continued. "He would not knowingly have led them into peril."

"According to Fredegar Bolger, he did try to persuade them not to come, "Saradoc laughed. "but when did Frodo ever talk those two out of anything they had their minds set on? Poor Fatty," Saradoc shook his head sympathetically. "It must have taken a good deal of courage to stay in the Shire and play the part of Frodo when he knew Frodo was being pursued."

"Fatty," Paladin said thoughtfully, "He would be Rosamunda's boy, wouldn't he. He is the one who raised the alarm. He came to no harm I hope."

"He was white as a sheet when they brought him here, but it was nothing that time, and the fortifying influence of the Brandybuck larder couldn't fix. He is safely at home in the tender care of his sister. She's been a great help to us, tending to the poor lads from the Bridge that were run down by those Beasts." There was a grimness in his eyes, and in his usually genial face that might have surprised one who did not know him well. Paladin knew him very well. On the surface he was as warm and hospitable as his grandfather Gorbadoc had been, but he was also the son of Old Rory, who had been the terror of mischievous boys, and any one else who dared to cause trouble anywhere in the Eastmarch. 

"How are the guards faring?"

"They'll live. As for Fatty," Saradoc's mood softened a bit. "He was still shaken when I spoke to him, but he is a stout lad. He confirmed that the boys knew that Frodo was leaving, and they made a pact not to let him go alone. Even Sam was in on the planning. They swore themselves to secrecy. Fatty knew more that he was telling, but he would not yield, even in the face of a frantic father who can, I am told," Saradoc added a bit dryly, "be a bit intimidating when roused. I'm afraid I may have snapped at him a little more than was necessary, but what I finally got out of him did much to ease my heart. Gandalf is indeed involved in this, up to his bushy eyebrows. The Black Riders who followed Frodo from Hobbiton were after something he was carrying, something of Bilbo's. That much we could have guessed. The good news from Fatty is that it seems the riders lost the party when they crossed the Brandywine at Buckleburry Ferry. By the time the Riders broke into Crickhollow, Frodo and the others had been gone for days, into the Old Forest. Merry led them there, much to Fatty's distress. Fatty doesn't know the Old Forest, and he fears what he does not know. Brandybucks do know the Forest, and it seems to me the safest thing they could have done. The roads would have been watched. Merry has spent as much time in the Forest as any us. They couldn't have a better guide. I think even a Dark Rider would pause before taking a horse into that wood. There is an old magic there that does not like to be disturbed." 

There was a silence. Saradoc called for more beer. "There is one more thing," Saradoc added as they waited. "Farmer Maggot and I had a long talk after I was done with Fatty, and not just about the Riders. Maggot was the one who helped them reach the Ferry in safety. He knows the Old Forest even better than the Brandybucks do. He was in and out of it a great deal when he was younger. He used to go in with my father when they were boys, and I have heard that he continued to be a regular visitor even after dad became Master. He is a good friend to the Brandybucks still, and quite fond of Merry and Pippin. He seemed certain that the boys would be safe in the Forest. He told me that they would find help in the Forest that they did not expect. He would not say how he knew, and I did not press him. I trust him. According to Fatty, Gandalf was to have met the party in Hobbiton before they left, but he never showed up. These Black Riders seem to have upset his plans. Not even the wizard, it seems, expected them. No one, "He add with his first grin of the evening, "Expected our boys."

The corners of Paladin's mouth twitched, but his eyes remained fixed on the fire. Saradoc continued.  "Maggot's friend will see them safely to Bree. Gandalf is sure to look for them there." Paladin still did not respond. Saradoc watched him intently. "I could send someone out to Bree to gather news. There are some Brandybucks who are still willing to make the journey, just for a chance to stay at the Prancing Pony. I could even," he continued quietly, "send Maggot into the Forest after them. He has not been in for a long while, but he would go if I asked him to."

Paladin looked over at him. "No, this is their quest, it would seem, and they well on their way. They are all grown hobbits now, after all. Well nearly all," Paladin amended with a faint smile. It would be several more years before Pippin reached 33, the age at which hobbits were considered fully adult. In addition to the incurable cheerfulness and good humor, which won him the affection of everyone he met, he still had a youthful tendency toward impulsiveness, which sometimes got him in trouble. Fortunately, he always seemed to have friends and family nearby to help him out. 

"Merry will look after him." Saradoc said gently. "He always has." 

"Peregrin will inherit all of my responsibilities someday," Paladin responded as he re-lit his pipe. "Perhaps it is time the boy started looking after himself." 


	2. Brandybuck Hospitality

Brandybuck Hospitality

                By unspoken agreement Saradoc and Paladin did not mention their sons again that evening. Instead, they stayed up far into the night discussing the finer details of Shire politics, which inevitably involved large doses of genealogy, obscure references to Brandybuck and Took family history, and minute examination of the small doings of all the branches of their extended and inter-related clans. Rumors of troubles on the borders were, for the most part, ignored, being less interesting than idle speculation about where Lotho Sackville-Baggins had come by the money he had been lording-it-up all over the Shire with, and what fool thing he would get up to next. Talk was that he was in negotiation to buy Sandyman's mill, indeed the deal was near completed, some even went so far as to say that he was planning to tear it down as antiquated. Saradoc and Paladin shook their heads, and called for more beer.

                Esmeralda found them there in the wee hours of the morning, when even the wildest hobbit 'tween was safely home in bed, or passed out in the inn of their choice. By this time they were both nodding over their mugs, which had been refilled many times while they had solved the problems of Buckland and the Four Farthings from the safety of their chairs by the fire. They woke to the sound of her laughter. 

                "Look at you two! A fine pair of old gaffers, asleep over their beer!"

                "Not asleep, my dear," Saradoc managed, "just…um…"

                "Thinking deeply," supplied Paladin.

                "'S right. Deeply thinking," Saradoc finished with dignity, and somehow contrived to stand up without swaying.

                Esmeralda shook her head. "Now I enjoy the smell of pipe-smoke as well as any other hobbit wife, and I warrant I could still blow a finer smoke-ring than either of you, but this is ridiculous. How do you breathe in here? I've told you before Saradoc, a room without windows is no place for smoking. Now to bed, both of you!"

                Saradoc looked sheepish. Paladin, who knew how worry sharpened his sister's tongue, grinned and winked at her. "Yes, little mother."

                "Don't 'little mother' me big brother," Esmeralda had her hands on her hips, but here face was softened by an answering smile. "I've had your usual room made up. I'm sure you can find it well enough. If you get lost, no doubt someone will trip over you in a few hours when sensible hobbit-folk are getting up. Come on old love," she murmured to her husband as she put a hand under his elbow and gently steered him out the door.

                Paladin did find his room, and an inviting feather bed, warmly made up, and was soon contentedly oblivious to the world.

                When he woke up, it was obvious that the day had been underway for quite some time. He would have been quite happy to let it continue on its way without him, but a small sharp voice somewhere in the fog in his head reminded him that it was a long ride back to the Smials, and Eglantine was waiting. 

                Four large mugs of Saradoc's excellent ale last night might well account for the fog, he conceded as he sat up groggily. No, at least five. Six perhaps? Sitting up made the room tip briefly, but it was rewarded by the sight of a heaping tray of sticky buns set out on a small table beside the fire, along with a large mug, and a steaming pot of tea warmed by a brazier. The fire had been tended recently and was adding its cheerful light and warmth to the autumn sunlight streaming in through the window.

                Esmeralda knew his weaknesses. The pile of buns was much smaller by the time he washed his hands and face in the bowl on the nightstand and went in search of his hosts. He found them in the Sun Room. Dug into a projecting knob on the hill, it had exceptionally large windows, facing in three directions. Being a hobbit room, it was naturally equipped with a large table, and the table, naturally, was laden with food. Paladin arrived to find it set with assorted platters of cold meats, cheeses and fruit, accompanied by thick warm bread and butter. He was soon seated comfortably with a plate on his lap. It had been far to long since he had enjoyed the fabled hospitality of the Brandybucks.

                "I suppose this is Second Breakfast for you. I'm a bit behind on my meals it seems."

                "Elevenses actually," his sister laughed at him. "But take as much as you want. I'll join you!"

                The empty plate beside Saradoc's chair showed that he had already eaten. He sat thoughtfully puffing on his pipe and watching the siblings banter. When Paladins plate was nearly empty, Saradoc cleared his throat "So is the Thain going to make an official response to the riders?"

                Paladin looked up, but did not reply.

                "They made it easily past the Bounders. They know how slight our defenses are. They are content now to pursue Frodo, but I have a feeling this is not over for us. There is more at stake here than mere dragon treasure. Maggot feels it to. It is time the Thain did something."

                Paladin looked troubled. "What would you have the Thain do? Raise a Shire-muster? I would be laughed at from Bywater to Michel Delving. I'm afraid on the other side of the River, this whole affair is considered a Brandybuck problem. The Riders did no damage in the Farthings, and the few eyewitnesses that saw them are believed to be telling tales."

                "So…If the Brandybucks chose to live right up against the Old Forest, then they had better be prepared to deal with any trouble themselves, is that it?"

                "I'm sorry Saradoc. As The Took, and as an old friend, I can send some of my own lads over to help if you need it."

                Saradoc shook his head. "The Brandybucks can take care of themselves, although I thank you for the offer. It is the rest of the Shire I am worried about." 

                "I will do my best to prepare the Tooks, although I don't know what I am preparing them for. I'll speak to Will Whitfoot too, but I'm not sure what more he can do. He has already increased the Bounders twice in the last year in response to troubles in the South Farthing.

                "He did?" Esmeralda broke in, "Good for the Dumpling. I never would have thought he had it in him."

                Paladin looked at her soberly. "I'm not sure I have it in me. I'm a farmer, Esse. I know soil and root and leaf. I know nothing of defense and strategy. I don't even like wearing the Thain's ceremonial sword at banquets, and I am suppose to rally the entire Shire to arms against an enemy they don't believe exists? Pippin might be able to do it, if he could be persuaded of the seriousness of the situation. He has a way with people. I can't."

                Saradoc looked keenly at his friend. "You are respected because you are a farmer. You know the land, and you love it. Not just Tookland, but every piece of cultivatable land in the Shire. You will defend it if you have to, and people will follow you." He sighed and shook his head. "Maybe I am just over-reacting. I could use Merry right now. Solid, level-headed Merry…It's up to us old men now my friend. We will do what we can." 

They sat for a while in silence, feeling their shared loss. Paladin thought of Merry's coming of age celebrations. He remembered sitting in this room listening to his nephew share his hopes and dreams for the future, while Saradoc and Esmeralda beamed with pride. Pippins face had sparkled with love and excitement for his cousin. 

Hobbits were not good at sharing their deeper feelings. Part of their amazing resiliency lay in their ability to speak of  even great trauma with a light jest. He had found himself unable to share his true emotions with Eglantine, as burdened as she was with her own grief and fear, so he had busied himself with the collecting information, with riding out and doing something, anything. Here, suddenly, all the feelings he had not yet acknowledged came rushing over him. He reached out his hands to hold them both, his dearest sister and his closest friend.

It was in this room that the siblings' friendship with Saradoc began thanks once again to Brandybuck hospitality. Saradoc was only two, perched on his grandmother Mirabella's knee, when Paladin first really noticed him. Mirabella was a Took by birth; Esmeralda was not the first Took female to find a home across the Brandywine. They had come on Mirabella's invitation to celebrate the return of her favorite nephew, Bilbo. 

Esmeralda was six at the time. She entertained herself for a while playing with her youngest Brandybuck cousin, but she lost interest as soon as Bilbo began speaking. The room was filled to bursting with Mirabella's wide network of relations, and they were all hanging on Bilbo's every word. Esse sat staring at him with her mouth wide open. Paladin found himself watching Saradoc instead. Little Rady was watching Bilbo intently, with none of the squirming and babbling young Paladin had observed in most of the toddlers he knew.  The boy sensed that he was being watched and turned his head to see who was looking at him. Paladin met eyes of a startling Brandybuck blue. Blue eyes were found in many Took families to be sure, along with grey and, most uniquely, green, but there were no eyes as intensely blue as those found in the Brandybuck line. The large blue eyes peering at him from the small round face, already showing signs of the distinctive Brandybuck chin, had a cool intelligence to them, but bubbling underneath was a curious and profound amusement. Pal found himself smiling at the little tyke, and Rady grinned happily back at him, before sticking his fingers in his mouth and turning his attention back to Bilbo.

After that Paladin began begging his father for visits out to Brandy Hall. It was a long way to Buckland from the family farm near Whitwell, but Aldagrim was fond of his Aunt Mira and his cousin Rory, so he did his best to accommodate his son's wishes. Sometimes when Aldagrim could not take them, Paladin and Esmeralda where permitted to ride out with Bilbo, who continued to be a frequent visitor to the Brandybuck table.  Rady's mother Menelgilda welcomed Paladin as a cheerful and reliable babysitter. Together Pal, Esse, and Rady managed to explore every nook and cranny in Brandy Hall, quite and accomplishment. Very few even among the adult residents of the Hall knew for certain how many rooms were tucked away in the tunnels under Buck Hill. As Rady grew older, Rory and Gilda were easily persuaded to send him on extended visits to Whitwell.

When they had explored all the lands within a day's walk of Whitwell, Tuckburrow and Buck Hill, they began wheedling 'Uncle' Bilbo to take them on expeditions in the country around Bag-end. Paladin was in his 'tweens and Esse was 18 when Menelgilda suggested delicately to Aldagrim that perhaps it was no longer proper for Esmeralda to be tramping in the woods with the boys. When this came to Esmeralda's ears, she responded to the suggestion with a most un-lady like snort, and immediately went to see her Great-aunt Mirabella. Mirabella, 92 and still quite formidable, looked thoughtfully at her niece.  "Oh dear. You will have to forgive Gilda. She is a Goold. What you need is the guidance of a natural born Took female. How would you like to move out here and keep and old hobbitess company?"

With Esmeralda living in Buckland Paladin saw less of his former traveling companions. He was beginning to tire of wandering anyway. He had always been the least adventurous of the three. Instead he put his knowledge of the Shire to good use, carting produce to distant markets for his father. He was out marketing vegetables when he met Miss Eglantine Banks, a quietly pretty hobbit with a gentle, teasing wit, and a talent for putting even bashful farmers' sons at ease.

Eglantine. She was waiting for him back at the Great Smials. He should be getting home.

As Paladin's pony was saddled and led out, Saradoc and Esmeralda embraced him in turn. Saradoc's embrace was firm and silent, Esmeralda's was tearful. 

"I'll come back again as soon as I can," he promised.

"You say that every time you're here." His sister sniffed, and wiped her eyes with her hand. 

Paladin silently handed her his handkerchief. It was widely known that the Mistress of Brandy Hall frequently misplaced her own. "I always mean it, Esse" One last hug and then he rode off swiftly, never looking back.


End file.
